


Papa

by haruza



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 10:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9118927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haruza/pseuds/haruza
Summary: For a man as stoic as her papa was, he had been filled with so much love.Written for ssmonth15, day 7 (mortality).





	

From her place in the corner of her papa’s hospital room, Sarada watched as her parents said their last goodbyes to each other.

Uncle Naruto was standing next to her, his face uncharacteristically solemn. Both of them had already said their piece before stepping aside to give her mama some privacy with papa.

_Papa…_

Sarada remembers a distant time when she resented him for leaving her and mama behind. She had so many questions and no one willing to answer them, leaving her own imagination to spiral out of control. Eventually, she came to understand why her papa had left, why her parents kept her in the dark, but even now, _especially now_ , she wishes they could all go back and make up for all the loss time.

.

.

.

_“Papa!” two-year-old Sarada exclaims happily, as her short, chubby legs ran across the tatami mats when she sees her papa at the doorway.  
_

_“Sarada,” he calls out to her, before bending down to lift her up in his arms. “Were you good today?”  
_

_“Mhmm!” she replies with a wide grin, as she buries her face in her papa’s warm chest._

_Just then, her mama walks into the room. “Welcome home, anata,” she tells him with a warm smile.  
_

_“Aa,” her father replies back, softly. “I’m home.”_

* * *

_“Hey mom... Does dad even care about us?” Sarada asks one day. Her birthday was coming up in a few days and once again, her father wouldn't be able to make it home. It's been several years since she last saw him; she finds it difficult to even remember his face these days. It's all a blur.  
_

_Her mama frowns, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Now, why would you say that Sarada?”_

_“He’s never home!” she replies back, sounding harsher than she intended. “It's been 5 years! Why won’t he come back home to us? Is he even going to come back at all?”  
_

_“Oh, Sarada,” her mama says, bending down to engulf her daughter in a hug. There's a slight shake in her mama's voice, and immediately Sarada feels guilty for raising her voice._

_"Mom, I..." Sarada begins._

_“Sarada, I promise you. It’s_ because _he cares about us that he can’t come home. Not yet. But I promise, you’ll understand one day.”_

* * *

_“Oi, what are you doing Sarada?”  
_

_Whipping her head around, she comes face to face with her two teammates. “Shhh!” she places a finger on her lips, glaring at Boruto. “Be quiet or they’ll hear you,” she whispers before turning her head back around._

_The three genin were currently hiding behind a tree, a few yards away from the hospital entrance._

_Leaning over her shoulder, Mitsuki asks curiously, “What are you looking at?”_

_“My parents,” she replies back. Indeed, standing in front of the entrance were her parents. Only two weeks had passed since the big fight with Kaguya’s descendant and her papa was finally able to return home for good. Since then, she and her papa have been spending a lot of time together._

_Her mama insisted that they spend more time together to make up for all the lost time, which they both happily agreed, as she missed her papa just as much as (she later realized) her papa had missed her. Sarada didn’t think it was fair for her to hog her papa, so she told (or well, demanded, really) her papa to go take her mama on a date. A real one. That wasn’t at Ichiraku’s. And without Uncle Naruto. (Of course her papa scoffed at her at that. “That idiot invites himself.”)_

_Nonetheless, he agreed to her proposal. His daughter was not the only woman in his life that he had missed dearly while he was away on his travels, after all. He had meant to spent more time with Sakura after his return, but they both agreed Sarada deserved to spend some time with her papa first._

_“What about them?” Boruto asks, peering over from her other shoulder. “They’re just talking.”_

_“No, they’re_ flirting _,” Sarada corrects them. Boruto wrinkles his nose._

_“Oh, ew. Why on Earth are you–-” however before he could finish, Sarada jabs an elbow into his side. “Be quiet,” she tells him again, when she sees her papa glance towards their direction.  
_

_“My papa has been away for years. They deserve to flirt a little,” Sarada whispers back, her eyes watching as her papa hands her mama the flowers that she and Aunt Ino helped him pick out. She watches as her mama blushes, shyly accepting them, while her papa becomes amusingly bashful._

_Watching the scene unfold before her, Sarada is unable to stop the smile from her face._

_He's home._

* * *

Sarada snaps out of her thoughts when she hears her mama let out a soft gasp. Both her and Uncle Naruto rush over to the bed. “Anata…” her mama whispers, voice hoarse as she tries to hold back her tears. Her hands, wrinkled with age, grasp papa’s larger, frail ones.

The corner of his lips curl upward, when he sees her tears. “Annoying…” her papa answers back, his dark eyes brimming with love and affection as he looks as his wife. And then, taking in one last, quiet breath, his eyes flutter closed.

Sarada watches as her mama’s shoulders shake, quiet sobs racking through her body, as her hand tightens around her papa’s limp one.

She can feel tears running down her own cheeks, but she doesn’t move to wipe them away. 

_He’s gone. Papa’s gone._

For a man as stoic as her papa was, he had been filled with so much love. Whether he was home next to them or faraway, in some remote dimension and whether she realized it or not, she was loved.

No, the time they lost would never return and neither would her papa, but no matter where he went, no matter how far, he would always be her Papa and she would always be his daughter, always, _always_ —

* * *

_“I didn’t think I would live past sixteen,” her papa tells her one day. “I didn’t think someone like me deserved to be happy.”  
_

_“Are you, papa?” Sarada asks, as she looks at her feet. They are sitting outside on the veranda. Her mama had fallen asleep a while earlier and was inside sleeping. “Are you happy?”_

_He is silent for a few seconds before answering softly. “Yes.”_

_A few seconds go by, before he continues._ _“I’m sorry for not being there to watch you grow up.”_

_Her head jerks up. “No–-”_

_He shakes his head. “When we brought you into this world, I promised I would do everything in my power to protect you. To protect our family,” he says._

_“I’d like to think I did,” he muses to himself._

_“You did!” Sarada exclaims._

_Her papa lets out a wry smile. “Did I? Even though I’m such a failure as a husband and father…”_

_“You did your best, papa!” she tells him, eyes brimming with tears. “You did your best to protect us… to protect me… even though I…”_ Even though I hated you for being gone. Even though I said all those cruel things to you. 

_Her papa lets out an amused huff. “You’re just like your mama,” he says, leaning over to wipe away a trailing tear with his thumb. “Always crying…”_

_“I am not!” Sarada grumbles, as she quickly wipes away her tears with the back of her hand._

_Her papa lets out a quiet chuckle, but says nothing else._ _Peaceful silence envelops them once more until Sarada asks him, “Hey dad... Do you ever wish we could turn back time?”_

_There were so much lost time between them. For the 13 years that she’s been alive, more than 10 was spent not knowing who her father was. If only they could go back and…_

_Her papa considers for a few seconds before answering,“No.”_

_Sarada turns to look at her papa. “Why not?”_

_“I regret not being there to watch you grow up, but I don’t regret leaving to protect you and your mama,” he says. “The time we lost can never be returned, but looking to the past is not how one should live.”_

I know that better than anyone else _, he thinks wryly._

_Then, he glances over at her with a small, teasing smirk, and asks, “Besides, do we not have time now?”_

_Sarada finally smiles at that. “Yes, papa.” Yes, we do._

_._

_._

_._

_ーまた今度な、パパ。_

_—until next time, papa._

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written and posted on tumblr for #ssmonth15. I actually forgot about this until recently, but I wanted to post it here too. I hadn't written fanfiction in years until that point (and I haven't written anything since this one, either) so it's pretty sloppy...
> 
> And for some reason my final piece turns out to be angst! Haha, go figure.


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